This invention relates generally to techniques for elevating the leg of a reclining patient to facilitate examination or treatment of the leg, and more particularly to a leg elevating assembly which includes a disposable sling having a net adapted to securely engage and conform to the foot of the patient to elevate the leg without discomfort and without interfering with sterilization procedures.
There are several situations encountered in medical and surgical practice that dictate leg elevation. Thus it is sometimes necessary to elevate the leg of a patient above the surface of the table on which the patient is lying to permit a physician to freely examine, treat or dress the leg. Leg elevation is of particular importance in extremity surgery. Preparatory to such surgery, one must apply an antiseptic solution around the entire circumference of the leg from toe to groin to insure sterile conditions. This can be accomplished only by maintaining the leg in a position raised well above the table.
In existing surgical methodology, one common technique is for the surgeon, with the assistance of one or more orderlies, to prepare the leg in piecemeal fashion, the assistant holding up the leg at various points while the surgeon applies an antiseptic solution to sections of the leg. In those situations where both extremities must be prepared for surgery, this procedure often involves leg manipulations approaching the acrobatic. It also entails various leg hold-up improvisation whose effectiveness depends on the skill of the assistants. Current methods are unreliable and tiring as well as being expensive in that they are time-consuming.
It is also common practice to elevate the leg by hanging it from the big toe. This technique is crude, for it interferes with the blood supply and causes the toe to turn blue. Moreover, it is so painful to the patient that it can only be carried out when the patient is fully anaesthetized. To avoid this drawback, carriers of canvas, leather, or other strap material have been used which are adapted to engage the foot, the carrier being suspended from the head of a tall stand.
Such carriers have the serious drawback of masking the foot area engaged thereby, thereby blocking effective sterilization of the foot. Also, the edges of the carriers tend to cut into the tissue of the foot, for the positions of these edges are fixed by the predetermined shape of the carrier and do not adjust themselves to the contour of the foot.